Thesis2

PUBLIC SPACE

TRANSCENDING THE LIMITS OF PUBLIC LIFE IN RAMNA AREA

2

Permission for Use of Content:

“The authors herewith permit it that the present dissertation be made available for consultation; parts of it may be copied, strictly for personal use. Every other use is subject to strict copyright reservations. Particular reference is made to the obligation of explicitly mentioning the source when quoting the present dissertation’s results.”Leuven, 2012

All images presented in this booklet are, unless credits are given, made or drawn by the authors.

PUBLIC SPACE

DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE 13 THE DEFINITION 14 A DEFINITION 16 ZOOMING IN 18 ZOOMING OUT 22

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA 24 URBAN VOIDS 30 STREETS 38 WATER 50 SLUMS 56

CONCLUSION 60

Booklet 2:

A DEFINITIONTHE DEFINITIONZOOMING INZOOMING OUT

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE

OPEN

ACCESSIBLE

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

IN PRINCIPLE NOT IN PRACTICE

POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

SOCIAL CONCEPTION

14

< Picture shows people relaxing in Central Park in New York, one of the most famous parks in the United States. What draws attention in the image is the intensive use. Based on the American definition on the right public spaces in Dhaka will be cross-examined further on. [Wordpress.com 2010]

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‘All areas that are open and accessible to all members of the public in a society, in principle though not necessarily in practice.’

[Neal, Orum 2010]

DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE_THE DEFINITION

16

< Both pictures display the Plaza of Independence in Suhrawardy Udyan. The upper picture represents the Plaza of Independence as a vivid place welcoming a lot of colourful people. [Wikimapia] As a matter of fact this is an illusion and is not representative for the present situation. Due to political struggles the construction of the Bangabandhu National Museum drags along and as a consequence the plaza is temporary not accessible to the public. As long as the construction is not finished, the museum will be sealed off. The bottom picture shows the current situation as a desolate plaza. It is a shame that the potential of the plaza is unused due to political conflicts, because eventually the users of the park are the victims.

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At first sight the definition seems to be formulated from a Western point of view and consists of very general criteria for defining what public space is, because public space is by its very nature also contested, ambiguous and uncertain.

That is the reason why the stated definition is used with precautions to introduce this chapter. The proceedings of this chapter indicate that saying exactly what public space is turns out to be fairly complicated. Nevertheless the definition provides interesting input to analyse public spaces of Dhaka.

DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE_A DEFINITION

18

^ The panorama taken at TSC -Node demonstrates the problem of accessibility between the Teachers Student Centre (TSC) and Suhrawardi Udyan. The wide road, the high pavements and the absence of zebra crossings are the symptoms. This is not only the case for TSC-Node but the whole of Ramna Area deals with the same problems.

TSC Suhrawardi Udyan

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DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE_ZOOMING IN


With all areas is meant that a public space can both cover any physical and virtual area where individuals and groups can interact with one another.

Not only the Western society is invaded by the virtual world the last decades but also the public space in Dhaka is increasingly dependent on cell phone s and the internet. In that perspective the relative absence of women in the physical public space in Dhaka is perhaps a superficial observation. [Observations 2011] It is perfectly possible that women express their views freely on the internet.

To fully capture the definition it is interesting to deepen out the meaning of interaction. The dictionary gives the following definition: If two or more people interact, or if one person interacts with another, they communicate with one another and react to one another, often while performing an activity together. [Macmillan Publishers 2012]

Openness of a space means that individuals and groups are free to come and go, are free to use the space for its intended purpose, and are free to be either active participants or passive spectators.

Public space must not only be open but also accessible. The use of public space should not be limited by barriers of language, physical or mental ability, or geographic mobility.

The absence of a well working traffic system that connects Ramna Park and Suhrawardi Udyan with other parts of Dhaka harms the accessibility of both parks. Unfortunately the users of the park have to overcome the daily traffic jams in order to get to their beloved parks. Undoubtedly an elevated metro line, independent from main traffic, will provide a reliable connection with Ramna and more in specific with both parks.

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^ The panorama shows the amphitheatre adjacent to Dhanmondi Lake that attracts a lot of people partially because of the sitting facilities. On the contrary the accessibility in Suhrawardi Udyan is limited due to a lack of benches.

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DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE_ZOOMING IN

However, there is one restriction to this openness: public space is only open to members of the public. To decide who is a member of ‘the public’ and as a consequence has the right to use public space is culturally and politically charged material.

In the culture of Bangladesh it is not well accepted by the society that women roam around in the public space on their own. Generally they have to be accompanied by a male or leastwise have to move around in group. After sunset the restrictions even get more rigorous. When it is dark, a reputable girl should not show her face at all. Otherwise she will be categorized as a beggar or even worse as a sex worker. [Ainoon 2011] It is hard to tell something relevant about gender and the relation with public space without involving religion. Considered by the Bengali, women are not full members of public life. ‘In 2005, only 24 per cent of the male respondents believed that men and women should have equal rights.’ [Siddiqui et al. 2010]

In many cases, public spaces in principle open and accessible, fall short of this ideal in practice.

If the lighting is poor or no benches are present then in reality both openness and accessibility of the space are severely limited. Similarly if the space is bad maintained the public character is at risk. A neat park breathes out accessibility while dirt lying around gives people a sense of discomfort and even a feeling of insecurity. Thus, the accommodation of a space determines greatly the openness and accessibility. Additionally if security guards employ techniques of intimidation to discourage certain people to use the space, the space is not practically open. In Ramna Park a few benches are designed to prevent people from lying down wide. Comparing both mechanisms, than security guards and special benches are active means of exclusion while bad accommodation is rather a passive way of exclusion. Even though the mechanisms at play are different, the result is the same: the publicness of space is in danger.

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Political Engagement

Theorists have noted that public space plays an especially important role in democracy. In a sense public space is the ‘where’ of democracy and civic engagement, it gives citizens a place to participate in democracy, that is, to be citizens. In a healthy community, public space is an essential tool to express thoughts and to share them with the rest of the population. Public space is also of practical use to denounce abuses by the government and in that way to affect policy. Even politicians should cherish public space as a measure for the functioning of their administration. [Neal, Orum 2010]

In Dhaka the state has fenced public space, controlled entries and acquired multiple guards to keep an eye on the acts of people. In this way the government has altered the inclusive character of public space in one of exclusion. Consequently public space in Dhaka is violating the conditions of democracy. [Habib 2010]

When the availability and use of public space declines, ideals like freedom and liberty are threatened and people are less politically engaged. [Sennett 1992]

In Suhrawardi Udyan and Ramna Park social activities happen which rarely occur in the streets. During the observations in Suhrawardi Udyan a great amount of people were smoking joints in group. The wealth of couples sitting on the benches by the border of the water body in Ramna Park struck the attention as well. So in the parks people feel free to act as a full citizen. On the other side less pleasant and acceptable activities occur, like prostitution, child paedophilia and extortion. [Fieldwork 2011]

Legal Limits

This part is linked to the term public forum: ‘A government-owned property that has, by tradition or practice, been held out for general use by the public for speech-related purposes’. [First Amendment Schools 2006]

Considering the definition, public space is divided into three types of public forum. The three levels of public space differ by their intended purpose and extent of openness. In the United States this distinction into three levels is made based on legal terms, but it is also relevant in the case of Bangladesh. [Neal, Orum 2010]

The most open type of public space is the quintessential public forum that includes places like streets and parks. These places are and must always be open and accessible to all with expressive activity only limited in very narrow cases.

On the other side, the least open space is the non-public forum which includes public property which is not by tradition or designation a forum for public communication. Who may use these public spaces and how they may use them can be restricted to specific groups and activities.

Between these two extremes a third type is defined: the limited public forum. This includes public property that, unlike parks and streets, is not traditionally open but which the owner has opened for the use of the public as a place for expressive activity.

It is crucial that an upper level of public forum does not shift into a public forum of a lower level, like for example that a park like Suhrawardi Udyan that belongs to the quintessential public forum, considering the Amercan point of view, changes into a limited public forum or even a non-public forum or only on very rare occasions. Cautiousness has to be safeguarded regarding this topic.

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DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE_ZOOMING OUT

‘All areas that are open and accessible to all members of the public in a society, in principle though not necessarily in practice.’The previous statement about public space is too general and quite superficial and therefore the definition needs more specialized conceptions that consider their specific legal, political or social character.

Social Conception

The key questions related to the social conception are: How do public spaces organise public, social lives? How does public space work? To answer these questions three perspectives are developed.

Firstly, public space can be viewed as a facilitator of civil order. Interactions people have with friends in public spaces are the foundation of social networks. The close social bonds they develop in these settings provide a sense of belonging and security. Similarly, interactions they have with strangers in public spaces help them to understand their position in the world and how society expects them to act when they are in public.

Secondly, public space can serve as a site for power and resistance. Although openness is an implicit part of public space, none of these spaces are ever fully open and equivalent. As a result, public spaces will always present opportunities for conflict between those who claim the space for their own use and those who feel they have been unjustly excluded.

Though, the practice points out whether public space is experienced more like a battlefield than a playground. In other words, the imperative of the park or square is rather a site of power and resistance than a space wherein civil order is created and sustained over time. [Neal, Orum 2010]

Throughout history, public spaces in Ramna Area have been subject to different rulers as a means to (ab)use authority. Even today the opposing political families, like the Bengalis and the Bangladeshi, try to legitimize their power by manipulating public space.[See booklet Intructory, Introduction, Reading Ramna]

Finally, public space can function as a stage for art, theatre and performance. In this line of reasoning, public space represents in some way the culture of a community or society. This phenomenon goes hand in hand with the achievement and maintenance of the collective identity of people in public space. It is also a space where people go to see and be seen, where they go to express their unique identities to one another.

The concentration of (national) festivals in Ramna Area indicates its importance as cultural centre of the people of Bangladesh. [See booklet Ramna Area, Celebration

of Festivals in Ramna]

URBAN VOIDSSTREETSWATER SLUMS

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE DEFINING PUBLIC SPACE

26

Keeping in mind the definition and the aspects of public space that are described in the first part of the chapter, the purpose is to indicate the public spaces in Dhaka city. Providing an interpretation of each public space, using the definition, a comparison is possible.

Dhaka is the 9th largest city and the fastest growing city in the world. [United Nations 2012a] The population of Dhaka city has grown from 3,26 million people in 1980 to 14,63 million in 2010. [United Nations 2012b] This is what they call a mega city. A city as Dhaka has to cope with an exponentially growing population and its consequences.

One of the consequences is the decrease of open and herewith the public space in the city. Every year large numbers of people all over Bangladesh are heading towards the capital because of the poor facilities in the rural areas and because of the lack of protection against the common floods and natural disasters. [United Nations 2012c] The homeless are searching for a place to stay and they end up in one of the thousand slums which occupy the remaining leftover space. Not only the slums are to blame but also the large housing projects which are raising high residential towers as much and as quick as possible. The lack of urban planning in the city is giving these projects the opportunity to rise uncontrolled and not very thought out. [Siddiqui 1993]

It is relevant to mention that with the expansion of the city the amount of open space is increasing but in acre per 1000 people the rate of open space in the city is still decreasing. [Islam et al. 2010]

PROBLEM STATEMENT FOR PUBLIC AND OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA

Open Space

Population

0

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

Millions

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

0

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

< Graphic of Population [United Nations 2012a]< Graphics of Open Space [Islam 2010]

Acre/1000 people

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PUBLIC SPACE_CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA

Using a classification of several sorts of open spaces will make the comparison and interpretation more clearly. The classification leads to three main groups that differ physically and socially. The three main groups are Urban voids, as in parks and green open parts of land which are unbuilt, the streets and water.

> First picture: Old Tejgoan airport looks abandonned. Second picture: a typical streetview of the streets in Dhaka City.Third picture: New D.O.H.S. Lake

Urban Voids

Streets

Water

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The comparison will illustrate the different values of the urban voids. Throughout the city there are ten prominent urban voids each with their own uses and characteristics. These are the biggest or most popular open spaces. In-between those 10, small urban voids are scattered all over Dhaka. Because of the amount, one of them will be discussed as an example for all. The white dots on the map are the urban voids which are not discussed. The big open spaces are relevant to analyse because of the space they take throughout the whole city. Tightening one of the small urban voids is relevant because of the amount of small open spaces.The analysis and comparison is done using characteristics that some of the urban voids have and others are lacking.

On the map on the right page the 11 urban voids are denoted by a green colour. Between the different voids a distinction is made using a privacy gradient. This gradient highlights the fact that even in Dhaka, where open space is so scarce and sought, many of the bigger open spaces are often occupied and not available for every group of society. According to the definition the gradient is relative. For none of the indicated public spaces are entirely public. Bahadur Shah Park for example is open for everybody but not as accessible since it is located in Old Dhaka.

NOTE: All maps in the thesis are directed with the north facing the top of the page.

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PRIVATE1. Banga Bhaban2. Old Tejgoan Airport3. National Assembly

SEMI PUBL./PRIV.4. Kurmitola Golfcourse5. Shishu Park6 . Z O O + B o t a n i c a l Garden

PUBLIC7. Dhanmondi Lake8. Chandrima Udyan9. Bahadur Shah Park10.Ramna Park11.Suhrawardi Udyan

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA _URBAN VOIDS

0 2 km

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BANGABHABANAt the south-east corner of Ramna Area the official residence of the President of Bangladesh is located. Before the Bangladeshi period this complex was in possession of the East-Pakistan governor. Before that it was temporary the official residence of the British Viceroy of India. Because of its history Banga Bhaban is an important historical landmark. All around this building green spaces are located, scattered with trees and ponds. This green area has a surface of approximately 0,235 km2. The president of Bangladesh lives and works in the palace. During days of national interest such as Victory Day and Independence Day, the president holds various public receptions. [Ahmed 2006] & [Bangabhaban 2010]

Using the previously described definition of public space, the Banga Bhaban complex can not be called a public space. One of the reasons is the lack of openness and accessibility, not every individual or group is allowed to enter the complex and is free to use the space. The complex is surrounded by guarded walls. It is open and accessible for the invited upper class of society and also for the staff and officers of the president. Without permission it is forbidden to enter this complex. It can be said that there is a high exclusivity.

This is one of the examples of a relatively big open space that is present in the city and that only can be used by a little part of the upper class of society.


OLD TEJGAON AIRPORTThe Tejgaon airport was built for military purposes by the British government of India in 1941. After the partition of India in 1947, it became the first airport to operate civil aviation in former East-Pakistan and it was also a Pakistan air force station. Soon the government took over the civil aviation and made it a public sector activity. It was hard to handle with the increased air traffic in the Tejgaon airport and in the long run the airport could not cope with the requirement of an international airport. Because of that, a new piece of land located in Kurmitola was selected for the construction of a new terminal and runway. This new airport was called the ZIA International Airport.

In 1988 the Tejgaon Airport has been abandoned but the airport and the surrounding area,which is called Cantonment, is still in the hands of the military. The airport and Cantonment are restricted for everybody but army-members. The grounds of the Old Tejgaon Airport is unbuilt and sometimes used as runway for private jets. Cantonment is not built as dense as some other parts of Dhaka. It is hard to understand that a space like this, which can be an open and enjoyable space for the citizens of Dhaka, is kept private for a big part of the population.

Furthermore the old airport is one of the causes of the traffic problem in the city. Over the whole length, the airport blocks an east-west connection for both buses and private cars. This results in a disagreement between the inhabitants of Dhaka on a large scale. [Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh 2006], [The Financial Express 2009a] & [The Financial Express 2009b]

> First picture: Bangabhaban [Panoramio]Second picture: Empty runway of the Old Tejgoan Airport

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It can be said that this open space is a little more of a public space then the Banga Bhaban complex. This space is open for a bigger part of society, namely army-members and their families. In the part of the Old Tejgaon airport it is striking that there is one big chunk of open space that could do well as an open and public space but the most notable is that in Cantonment even the streets, which is discussed in the definition as one of the most public spaces, are not open and accessible for everybody, which results in the traffic problems described above and an exclusion of a big group of society. In principle, most streets of the city should be available for everyone, but in practice upper class groups claim pieces of land, and do not want to share it with the rest of the citizens.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMPLEXThe National Assembly Building was built in 1964,by Louis I Khan, an American architect, in the Pakistan period. The building was planned to be the second seat of the National Parliament of Pakistan. Despite of this fact, the Bengali people are proud of this piece of architecture that they consider as one of their great national buildings.

The building itself is surrounded by plazas, green gardens and lakes. All these elements are linked by roads and walkways. This complex is realised on an area of 0.6 km2. [Ali & Rouf 2006]

There are not many ways to enter the complex and the existing entrances are watched over by guards. To enter the building, as a visitor, a permission is needed which can be gained by paying a fee. The required entrance fee does not give the permission to walk free through the domain. In earlier years the stairs were being used by skaters and the green for resting and hanging around. Now it is forbidden to enter the greenery or the stairs. These new rules are adopted for ensuring safety in the complex. The whole circumference is therefore also fenced and guarded. [Chowdhury 2012]

It is not only a shame that this is such a big open space that is barely used and forbidden to enter, but also the fact that these garden were designed to give people the space to roam around in the gardens or gather on the grass. The gardens are still well maintained but unfortunately are not being used as they should be.Despite of the political meaning of the building, the surrounding space was available for the people to come and do what they felt like, be free. Only by taking away the openness and accessibility, this space changed into an empty meaningless garden.

KURMITOLA GOLF COURSEThe Kurmitola Golf Course was established in the mid-fifties. In the mid-sixties it shifted to its current spot. The newly redesigned course is an international golf course. 0,5 km2 of land is well organised for a professional golf.

< Two pictures of the National Assembly Building, the first before and the second after it is been made off limits. [Flickr]< A view on the green open space of the Kurmitola Golfcourse. [KGC 2011]

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To enter this open space an entrance fee is needed, for other parts of the course it is required to have a membership. Because of the high entrance fee, the entrance is restricted to who can afford it. Also the dress code that is obligatory shows a selection. [KGC 2011]

The golf course is a public gathering space for the rich people of Bangladesh. But because of the exclusion of the people who does not have the money also this large piece of green cannot be called entirely a public space.

The previous discussed open spaces were all limited by status. The people have to be part of a group to enter the space. The golf course gives the impression to open up for everybody but limits it by upholding the entrance fee.

SHISHU PARKShishu Park is located at the north side of Suhrawardi Udyan, the centre of Ramna Area. It is next to a very important and intensively used node, the Shahbag node, and therewith very reachable which is relative due to the traffic.

For entering Shishu Park paying an entrance fee is required but in contrast to the Kurmitola Golf Course the fee is tried to keep as low as possible. There is even one day in the week that there is no entrance fee required to get into the park, trying to include also the poorest of society. Nevertheless for each attraction paying a surplus is demanded.

The exclusion is not the exclusion of the biggest part of the society because of the low fee but there is still

a small gap. According to the definition one can say Shishu Park is not a public space. The accessibility is at stake because of the mandatory fee but also the freedom and liberty are jeopardized. Shishu Park is built to trivialize the political importance of this place by BNP only for themselves. [See Cultural Belt, Shishu Park] Trying to manage to the political environment and pushing the thoughts of the people in a direction can reduce the freedom and liberty.

ZOO + BOTANICAL GARDENThe zoo and the botanical garden are two separate identities. They are situated next to each other and located in Mirpur. Mirpur lies in the north-west and is not as reachable as Ramna Area, due to the poorer bus connection and the problem of the Old Tejgoan Airport. The two places are both recreational areas. The National Botanical Garden has a huge collection of plantation and trees, both indigenous and foreign. The Dhaka Zoo is home to many animals from different species. Despite of the poorer accessibility the Zoo and the Botanical Garden are popular places to spend the day both for Bangladeshis and international visitors. [Ahmed 2006] [Shahidullah 2006]

For the two recreational parks an entrance fee is required. The prices are kept reasonable similar to the entrance fees of Shishu Park.

Using the definition and because of the money-boundary that exclude the poorest groups of society, it can be stated that they are not entirely public, taking into account that the money-boundary is very low.

> Left picture: Shishu park, right picture : Zoo


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provided, these spots are a major attraction for many couples who want to spend the day with their boy- or girlfriend. Many food stalls and small restaurants are provided near the sidewalks of the lake.

Dhanmondi lake with its surrounding park is a place of interest. During the day the park is very open and accessible. Everybody is allowed to enter the open spaces, except for the surrounding fences there is barely no physical boundary to stop the people from entering. The many food stalls with sitting space and tables and the diversity of entertainment give this park a great social value. Most of the people come here and enjoy the park and each other. In view of the definition this is a good example of a place that can function as a stage for art, theatre and performance. Overall it is a place with a big social value.

CHANDRIMA UDYANOn the north side of the National Assembly Building and on the west side of the Old Tejgaon Airport, Chandrima Udyan, also called Zia Udyan, is located. Next to the street between the park and the National Assembly Building, Crescent Lake is located. It is often used for sitting and relaxing at the side of the lake or used for playing and washing in the water. To enter the park from the street a bridge that spans the lake is provided. The park is located on the north of the National Assembly building.

The centre of this park is the mausoleum of Ziaur Rahman, one of the former Presidents of Bangladesh. Ziaur Rahman was the founder of the Bangladeshi

DHANMONDI LAKEThis lake is situated close to Ramna Area and is an important part of the Dhanmondi residential area. Originally it was a dead channel of the Karwan Bazar River and was connected with the Turag River. In 1956, Dhanmondi was developed as a residential area. In the development plan, there was about 16 percent of the total area of Dhanmondi designated for the lake. Now the lake is partially connected with Begunbari Canal. It has a vital role in maintaining the only drainage system of Dhanmondi and surrounding areas. Nevertheless the lake is getting polluted and the situation is only getting worse because of the lack of open and public spaces. [Chowdhury 2006]

The water and the open space next to it is being used as a place to come and get a rest in a ‘quiet’ and ‘natural’ environment. It is a well visited spot that offers many interesting activities and events. There are events like cultural shows, drama’s and concerts which take place in the amphitheatre on the bank of the lake. A lot of trees are present which provide a lot of shade during the day and give a natural view to the users. In between the trees lots of benches are

< Left picture: the amphitheatre at the bank of Dhanmondi Lake, right picture: Crescent Lake at Chandrima Udyan.

Both the money-boundary and the poorer connection to Mirpur, lowers the accessibility of the place and herewith the publicness. The question rises if it is necessary to have a better connection and lower the money-boundary. If for example the connection would be better, the place would have to cope with a bigger amount of people which could turn out into a less pleasant environment.

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Nationalist Party (BNP). [See Booklet Introduction, Historical Overview, Recent History]

Every day people come and visit the park not only to pay a tribute to the former president but also to take a rest by sitting at the lakeside, taking a walk in the morning or evening or playing some football on the open plains. In this park there is no accommodation foreseen but it is scattered with informal and movable venders. This park is sometimes used for political demonstrations or other events. Despite of the fact that the social conception and the political engagement both are elements of a public space, one space is more ‘facilitated’ to support the political engagement, as in Chandrima Udyan, the other to support the social conception as for example, Dhanmondi Lake. Because of the mausoleum of Ziaur Rahman, and the National Assembly Building next to the park, the people are challenged to think and express their political feelings. [See Booklet Introduction Historical Overview, Recent History]

Some come to pay a tribute, others will use this place to demonstrate. It is a place where people can think and express themselves freely associated with politics. In the first place it is a space with a social value but the political ladenness often takes over.

BAHADUR SHAH PARKThis park is an example for all the small open spaces throughout the city. It is located in Sadarghat in Old Dhaka. In the early years it was to become a European city centre, the space was surrounded by lots of important buildings such as schools, a mosque, a church, a bank, several offices, a library... This was becoming a centre thanks to a small European club, but the English soon demolished the structure and

so the club was shifted to Ramna Area. The British transformed this node into a green round-about and they called it Victoria Park. 45 years ago the park was renamed as Bahadur Shah Park, after the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah.This park has a meaningful history. The British executed a large number of Indian soldiers, the present monument is dedicated to the fighters of the first freedom struggle against the British. It is a site with a history and thus a political background, but nowadays, the park attracts lots of people to come and join the peaceful environment. [Rahman 2009]

Because of the history and the environment, the park is facilitated for both the political engagement and the social conception. People can come to visit the monuments or can come and enjoy each others presence. Also this park is encircled with fences but despite of that the park is open. Everybody is allowed to enter the park. The two points that make the park less accessible are firstly the location and secondly the size of the park. With traffic jams so present in the old part of the city, it is not easy to reach the park in a normal period of time that is worth the effort. Therefore it is probable that this park is used by the local residents. Therefore the question of the need of accessibility rises again. If this place would be accessible for the whole city, it probably could not cope with the amount of visitors. It is a fact that it is not accessible for every citizen but is that the reason why it is not a public space?

> Left picture: people sitting in Bahadur Shah Park, right picture: pathway in Ramna Park.


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is more populated by people who form part of the more wealthier group of society. Which is a result of inconspicuous interventions such as for example the benches where sitting is possible but sleeping is not, the prohibition to entre the park with a movable stall or the difficult accessibility to water for washing and playing. In the nighttime, still before closing time at 10PM, the image of the park changes. The image changes from a nice green park to a place crowded with sex workers. [Fieldwork]

On special days for example on Bangla New Year lots of Bengali people gather in the park. It is a park that provides the space for such events.

Ramna park is a loaded space, it has a great historical meaning since it is one of the oldest and most used parks in Dhaka.

SUHRAWARDI UDYANSuhrawardi Udyan is situated south from Ramna Park, what means that it is located in the centre of Ramna Area. The most visited border of the park is situated at the west side. The street and the buildings that are lying next to the park have a big influence on the park. This strip of cultural and educational buildings, is called the ‘Cultural Belt’. The other surroundings of the park are less connected with the park.This is a park with a rich history. It started from pleasure gardens for the Mughals, became a

RAMNA PARKRamna Park is situated in the centre of Ramna Area. It is surrounded by ‘the ‘Democratic’ Zone’ [See Booklet

Ramna Area, Scenery and Play, ‘Democratic’ Zone], Suhrawardi Udyan and more private areas like Dhaka Club and the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel. The park is bounded by a fence with several entrances. The park is controlled by guards whose job is to keep the peace in the park.

The park is provided well with benches that are intensively used. There are kiosks where often gatherings are organised, steel umbrellas where shelter is provided when it rains, places that are equipped with training appliances etc. The park is a perfect place for joggers and therefore it is intensively used by them. A free playground makes the park also child friendly and a women zone makes the park likable for women. Next to the provisions that are accommodated by the government the environment is highly pleasant because of the quantity of trees and so the quantity of shade. The park has also a water body that entails calmness or provides people of a washing place. Informal venders are present in the park where to buy little snacks and drinks. It is notable that there are no movable stalls inside the boundaries of the park. All these facilities together make this park a well visited and highly appreciated public and open space. [Fieldwork]

It is striking though that in the day time the park often

< Picture of Suhrawardi Udyan when the sun is down, people enjoying the waterside and playing soccer on the open plain.

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racecourse for the British and a national identifying place for the Bangladeshi people. [See Booklet Introduction, Historical Overview]

Not only historically but also on the present day there are politically remarkable points in the park. The Liberation War Museum that is being built is a tribute to Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation, and is commissioned by the Awami League but not in favour of the opposition, BNP. [See Booklet Ramna Area, Scenery and Play, Libereation War Museum]

This place is historically and politically highly charged.

Putting that aside, this urban void is still used as a normal park, people come here to gather or to avoid, to rest or to trespass through a green and quiet environment. Parts that are open are used to play cricket or football, other parts are fully planted with trees where people and mostly couples can enjoy the shade. An artificial water body is present and is used for playing or washing. This park is strikingly less accommodated then Ramna Park although informal stalls try to clear the gap and try to accommodate the park themselves. In the evening for example these stalls provide candlelights, tables and seats.

On special events or festivities this park is the centre of the city and is intensively used.

The connection between Ramna Park and Suhrawardi Udyan does unfortunately not have the desired association for such two parks lying next to each other. Despite the connection, the two parks together provide the features that a good working public space needs in a city. In a potential design the two atmospheres of the park still have to be taken into account. The combination of Ramna Park and Suhrawardi Udyan is one of the areas in the city that meets the definition of public space the best way. It is accommodated to use the space for relaxing and for the social aspects such as getting together with friends/co-students/girl- or boyfriend. At the same time it is one of the places in the city where people come together to do things that are even not allowed by government or religion such as smoke a joint or dating. It often gives a contradictory scene, the park gives the freedom to the people to do

what they feel like even it is not approved but in the meantime the park is highly controlled by fences and guards who look the other way. For manifestations or festivities the whole area is being used including Suhrawardi Udyan.

The fact that the two parks are located in one of the cultural and geographical centres of Dhaka, it is one of the most reachable places throughout the city especially looking at the many bus connections and roads. This is relative because of the plenty traffic jams. The two parks are highly accessible and open, they take all the aspects of the definition into account so according to this definition Ramna Park and Suhrawardi Udyan are public spaces.


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STREETS - PUBLIC USE / PRIVATE USESeveral types of streets can be distinguished in Dhaka City, each with its specific streetlife. Different groups of people in society appropriate the public streets in various ways.In Bangladesh people have a tradition of using the streets as the place where public life takes place.Due to the immense population growth in Dhaka, entire families are squeezed in big apartment blocks in Dhaka or even have to adapt their lives in single-room shelters in one of the thousand slums in the city. These houses have few or no outdoor space and public spaces in the city are also on the decline. The streets become the playground for the children, the restaurant terraces for the working class, the bedroom for the most disadvantaged or the market place for those who can afford.

The streets in Dhaka both serve as public, community space or as private, intimate space. At first sight this may seem problematic but the following examples show how public and private life are interwoven on the streets of Dhaka city and this results in both positive and negative situations.

The definition of public space that is used before, states that public space is ‘all areas that are open and accessible to all members of the public in a society, in principle though not necessarily in practice’. Streets satisfy this definition of public space if everyone is allowed to use the streets for transportation if one follows the traffic rules. Sidewalks often occur as a transition zone between the private indoor space and the public streets.

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA_STREETS

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Traffic conditions in a city with more than 15,000,000 inhabitants can be summarized only by one word: chaos! Each day millions of people need to travel to work using one of the 400,000 rickshaws or one of the overcrowded buses. This collision between slow and fast traffic flows causes immense traffic jams on a daily basis. This creates a polluted and unhealthy environment and accidents are the rule rather than the exception.

UNDER THE FLYOVERThe section below is an example of one of the main streets in Dhaka. As the drawing shows the street, both at ground level as on the flyover, stays reserved for transportation. Otherwise all adjacent spaces like footpaths, sidewalks,.. are occupied with informal stalls and little shops and restaurants. Places beneath the flyover bridges become small, covered markets and are used for shelter to escape the burning sun or the rains. However all these informal shelters obstruct the pedestrian flows on the sidewalks.


Many streets also act as a meeting place for people, with shops and eating stands thus one can easily understand that these roads play an important role in public life and in other words the street acts as a public space.

Next to the main street another network of small streets begins which connects other neighbourhoods, often slums, to the main transportation routes. These small alleys often are unpaved and traffic mostly is narrowed to rickshaws. The houses on the side of the streets open little shops and try to sell their goods to the passing people.

This situation with a major road and an overpassing flyover isn’t that frequent. Only a handful flyovers are already visible in the streets of Dhaka and some others are being built. Major roads with two or more lanes in each direction mainly run in an north-south direction but don’t enter the crowded Old-Dhaka.

Shops and stalls occur everywhere next to the streets.

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THE STREET AS A MARKETThe oldest part of the city, situated in the South at the Buriganga river, consists of a dense network of crisscrossing roads and alleys. Motorized vehicles aren’t allowed here except for the occasional reckless motorbike forcing everyone to jump on the doorsteps.Streets are crowded with people on rickshaws, a mishmash of people walking to work, vendors and merchants ganging up to form entire markets. The street becomes more than just a street.

The example section below shows one of the thousands tortuous alleys in Old Dhaka. Transportation only takes place on foot and the streets are used for other purposes. Food stalls emerge every few metres to form entire markets. During the Ramadan other vendors occur to sell the immense popular special Ramadan pastries and sweets. Often this food is prepared and baked on the same spot.

Observations demonstrate many other streets in Old Dhaka became filled with people and informal infrastructures. The actions on the streets have changed but they can definitely be characterised as a place of public use.


^ Map above indicating Old Dhaka in green.

Left image: “The street as a market”^ Small street in Old Dhaka act as markets. Traffic only comes in second place.

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Next examples show that public life and private life can interrupt with each other on the streets. It is not always clear if the street preserves its publicness at all time.

LIVING ON THE RAILSAs a way of transportation a railway can also be seen as a ‘street’ and thus in essence a public space. People make use of this infrastructure to travel from one place to another on foot. One can make the remark that the railway track and the area next to it are used by the railway company and so is private space. Yet it is catalogued here as public because the main use, transport, is available for everyone. Because the observations pointed out that it is not forbidden to walk on the rails, the statement is that the rail line is primarily a public space.

From north to south a railline crosses Dhaka City with several railway stations (Airport, Cantonment, Banani, Tejgaon, Kamalapur Station) so people from all over the city can use the train for transportation to other places in the Dhaka district or to other cities in different divisions in Bangladesh.The railway runs through the city in a straight way and is therefore also used a lot by pedestrians travelling from north to south in the city.

The open space next to the rails is often used for housing. Here slums start to develop including all the activities exercised by the poorest people. The houses are usually built against walls separating the railway from residential blocks, factories or industrial zones. The slum houses are faced towards the rails and in front of them entire markets arise on the rails. This transition zone, semi-public in character, can be problematic.It is clear that this isn’t a safe living environment, especially for children, both because of the danger of passing trains as well as the lack of essential facilities resulting in bad sanitary conditions.

In this example the railline, in essence a street and thus a public space, includes both public and private uses. The slums offer private, intimate space to the residents and sometimes even two rows of houses occur separated by a small road. However on the rails vendors form a market, kids play, livestock grazes, .. but they suddenly move when a rusty train passes by, expelling huge clouds of black smoke.

In the mid-60’s the railway track was shifted to its current location and a part of the previous track was transformed into Sonargoan Road, nowadays a colourful and lively street on the border between Old Dhaka and the new Dhaka. Who knows what will become of the current railline when future transportation plans will be worked out.

^ “Living on the rails”Section of the railway through Dhaka and the informal settlements which appear here.

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^ Sleeping men on the TSC roundabout early in the morning.

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THE HOUSE OF THE HOMELESSA last example mentions the living conditions of the homeless people and their influences on the streets of Dhaka. If slums seem to be the last resort for the most unfortunate, what to say about the thousands of homeless people whose biggest concern is to find a place for the night.

The picture on the left was taken in the early morning in front of the TSC, the Teacher and Student Centre. Several men had to pass the night on the roundabout in the open sky. Three hundred metres away, at Shahbagh node, a rickshawpuller still sleeps under his rickshaw. This use of the street, a public space, is the most private possible. In search for a place to sleep, the most intimate action, they appropriate a piece of the public space, they privatise it.

It is needless to say that the streets in Dhaka are used in a multifunctional manner. Apart from the original transport function, much more happens on the street and next to it. Some examples of how these streets are used by the public are given and so play an important role in the experience of public life.In other occasions public space gets privatised, more intimate actions take place on public ground.

Different reasons can be found for this multifunctional use of the streets. Already mentioned before is the lack of open space in Dhaka City. Every piece of land is built up by huge housing blocks and factories to provide work for the increasing number of citizens. Even the leftovers, often wetlands, are occupied with slums with up to 200,000 people.

Another reason for the popular streetlife is probably the climate in Bangladesh. All around the world people in countries with warmer climates tend to spend their time in front of their houses, thus on the streets.

“House of the homeless”Men sleeping on the ground under their rickshaws next to the streets, in essence a public space.

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< Strategic Transport Plan (2005) for Dhaka showing different bus lines and elevated metro lines to solve traffic situation in Dhaka city. [Guha 2011]

^ Even at the outskirts of the city the traffic situation is far from perfect.

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PRESENT SITUATION IN DHAKAOne of the biggest problems Dhaka has to face is its traffic situation. Each day millions of people get stuck in endless traffic jams, accidents occur causing damage and many injured. Moreover all the exhaust gasses from motorized traffic lead to an immense polluted environment.What are the current issues that cause this traffic congestion and are there opportunities to solve them?Several issues about the transport situation in Dhaka should be mentioned to understand the daily chaos on the streets. The roads comprise only 7% of total city surface, this should be 25% for good city planning. [Rahman 2008]

There are simply too many vehicles in an area which cannot handle them. Traffic methods in Dhaka are quite various, around 1 million cycle rickshaws (but only 100.000 legal) are the most visible and probably most used type of transport. [Alam 2011]

The transport management is not good at all, as an example only 2% of the buses is public transport organised by the government, the rest are all privately operated. [Guha 2011] The combination of the huge amount of slow traffic in combination with the fast traffic of the buses and the cars contributes to the traffic congestion. Actions are taken to exclude rickshaws from several major roads but this only solves things on a very small scale.Another specific transport issue is the lack of proper east-west connections in the city. The most problematic congestion occurs in the northern half of Dhaka around the Cantonement. This includes the military airport and army residences and stretches from north to south while the city has developed parallel to this area on either side. As a military zone this area is protected and transit traffic is not allowed. This results in long detours for people who wish to make east west trips in the northern half of the city. [Islam 1996] This is an example of the consequences of military segregation, as discussed at the end of the previous chapter.Radical measures are necessary because the streets will only get more crowded with the large influx of people to the city.

STRATEGIC TRANSPORT PLANA massive Strategic Transport Plan (STP) is initiated by the government to modernize Dhaka’s transport system. The plan will focus on improving the present transport network by rearranging it and implementing new systems. The plan consists of both new BRT and MRT lines. The Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) lines will provide bus stops in less accessible areas of the city, it will for example penetrate into the Old Dhaka tissue. An east-west connection will try to solve the congestion problem around the Cantonement. Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines will be implemented as elevated metro lines for the rapid movement of huge amounts of people through the city.

A Dutch thesis study has also investigated which solution would be best to solve traffic situation in Dhaka. [Niger 2011] The study focussed especially on the role of public transport in the city. The conclusion has similarities with the STP.

METRO LINEFor the implementation of the elevated metro the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has made several studies about the feasibility of such metro line in Dhaka. An elevated metro has the advantage that it has little impact on existing roads and infrastructure and is hereby maybe the only solution in the dense city tissue. Implementation time and costs however will be a great challenge for Dhaka. [JICA 2011]

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Bangladesh can be considered as a country of water with several immense rivers having their estuary in the Bay of Bengal. In history water has played an important role in the everyday life of the people of Bangladesh and still today, the rivers are intensively used for transportation and for commercial purposes.Dhaka, founded on the banks of the Buriganga River, still has a great connection with the water. Despite this connection they have a love-hate relationship with water. In recent history the city has been flooded dramatically several times causing huge damage costs and unhealthy living situations. The city isn’t able anymore to cope with the huge amounts of water both flowing through the surrounding rivers as the rainwater tearing down from the sky during the wet season. Due to lack of proper management (both water and urban management) wetlands are shrinking day by day in Dhaka city as they are being filled to provide new sites for housing, infrastructure and for disposal of garbage and waste. Often these sites are privately owned property and settlements of slums appear on filled wetlands and the adjoining areas. [Islam, Ahmed & Rabbani 2010]

^ Map showing the rivers surrounding Dhaka and all small canals and waterbodies in the city.

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA_WATER

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^ The two following maps show striking changes in the appearance of wetlands in Dhaka City. The first map shows the situation in the year 1988, the right map show the situation in 2008. [Islam, Rahman, Shahabuddin and Ahmed 2010]

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Another aspect of water in Bangladesh is the problem of arsenic contamination of drinking-water. Ingestion of arsenic-contaminated water results in severe health effects which are slowly manifested. This situation has spread through all the country making it the largest known mass poisoning in history with more than 29 million people exposed through their drinking-water. [Rahman 2002]

This contamination also occurs in Dhaka and is partially caused by the use of tubewell water. Studies have proven that many of these wells contain poisoned water. The solution can be found not by changing the source of water but comprehensive national water testing providing essential information to households about which wells are safe and which are not. [Caldwella

et al. 2003]

A last issue about water we would like to mention, is the decline in groundwater level in the city. An article in the Daily Star newspaper written by Mohammad Shamsudduha from the Department of Geography from the University College London explains this subject. [Shamsudduha 2010]

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) supplies about 1,9 million cubic metres (MCM) of water a day against a city’s daily demand of 2,2 MCM. Underlying aquifers provide around 85% of this water and only 15% comes from surface water treatment plants. This abstraction of groundwater is far too high as the annual groundwater recharge is only 300-350 MCM in comparison with the annual abstraction of about 700 MCM.

Groundwater level has declined since the mid-1980s and recently it is declining at even greater (>2m/year) rate. In 2008 water-level was about 70m below ground level in some areas of Dhaka City. There definitely is reason to concern as many consequences associated with groundwater storage depletions occur. These include drying up of production wells, reduction of water in streams and lakes, deterioration of water quality, increased pumping and water supply costs and land subsidence. University researchers have proposed many mitigation options over the last decade which include proper maintenance of existing surface water treatment plants and construction of more such water-supply system, construction of groundwater well field outside of Dhaka City, rejuvenation of canals and wetland in and around Dhaka to enhance groundwater recharge to aquifers and others. But above all, public awareness campaigns on this matter should be undertaken to improve the current condition both by private as by government initiatives.

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Water also plays an important role in public life of the people in Bangladesh. As mentioned before, they have an intense connection with rivers and water. The panoramic views you have on the waterside of one of the mighty rivers around Dhaka surely is amazing and also restful and relaxing. A quality which is only little present in the dynamic centre of a city like Dhaka.

The few left parks and open spaces in Dhaka all have some kind of water body. Not all of them are well accessible to the people but some are intensely used by the public both for recreation for young children, as a bathing and washing spot for poor people or just as pleasant resting spot for people who want to escape from the constant chaos of the city. As water plays an important role for the people of Bangladesh and considering this analysis as a design investigation, making the connection with existing water bodies in public spaces is something to take into account when making a design.

This last fact is also one of the reasons why travelling by boat is still popular in Bangladesh, even if train connections offer less time-consuming options. People like travelling by water as a way of escaping from the everyday hustle in the crowded and contaminated cities.

^ Picture showing the waterbody in the Suhrawardi Udyan park. Especially young children use the water to play in.


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SLUMS OF BANGLADESH CITIES, 2005Dhake Metropolitan Area

^ Map of Dhaka showing all the slum clusters. The thin white line indicates the railway where a lot of slums are situated next to. Map based on slum map from the CUS study. [CUS 2006]

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CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA_SLUMS

The classification of open space pointed out that urban voids, streets and water occupied all open space in the city. However this division does not include everything. Many leftover open spaces in the city’s tissue are occupied by slum settlements.

In 2005 a study about the slums in Bangladesh was carried out by the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS), called Slums of Urban Bangladesh, Mapping and Census, 2005. [Islam et al. 2006] By giving some findings of this study a clear view is provided of the slums in Dhaka and how they interact with the urban tissue and more specifically the open space of the city.

If the study shows that in 2005 4,966 slum clusters with a total population of 3,4 million were found in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area, it is necessary to understand what the researchers identified by a slum. For that reason they have composed a definition of a slum drawing on both international literature as well as widely accepted definitions or norms applied in the Bangladeshi context. Slums were defined as settlements with a minimum of 10 households or a mess unit with a minimum of 25 members and (i) predominantly very poor housing, (ii) very high population density and room crowding, (iii) very poor environmental services, especially water and sanitation, (iv) very low socio-economic status, (v) lack of security of tenure. To qualify as a slum, an urban community had to meet at least four of these criteria. [islam et al. 2006]

Why paying that much attention on slums when discussing the open space in Dhaka? As numbers show the great part of the slum settlements were only constructed in the last 35 years. This means that in this period the few left open spaces were filled with informal houses for thousands of people. As nearly 10% of the slums are situated on government land, this area can’t be used by other groups of the society. The major part is privately owned and investors get easy money by squeezing thousands of the poorest often in the tiniest and worst parts of the city.

On the next page some striking numbers and facts are presented about the slums in Dhaka. Except for this info some extra issues about slums need the attention.

An interesting fact is that 86,4% of slum households live under the poverty line. However this also means that 13,6% of the slum population is not-poor. The question which needs to be asked is why all these people decide to live their lives in slums while they don’t belong to the hardcore poor population. The study of CUS from 2005 pointed this out but didn’t really pay attention to this. Future studies about urban slums in Bangladesh will probably search for underlying causes for this phenomenon.

The slums dweller’s perception of their own settlements is also investigated in the study. It appeared that the term “bastee” (how people name slum in Bangladesh) normally carries a negative image and even residents of a “bastee” often do not like their settlements to be so labelled. Other names occur depending on the different urban centres. In Dhaka the term “mohalla” is chosen the most popular by people of 43,9% of the slum clusters. In Dhaka also the term ‘residential area’ (“Abashik Elaka”) is accepted for 22,9% of slum clusters. This referring to middle class or nonpoor neighbourhoods. In other cities like Chittagong and Sylhet the terms “camp” and “colony” are used by most slum dwellers to describe their settlements. These terms normally indicating “refugee” or squatter resettlements in the Bangladeshi context. [Islam et al. 2006]

Thus it is obvious that paying attention at terminology when speaking about ‘slums’ in Bangladesh as some terms seem to have a very negative connotation both on human perception as on socio-economic status.

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4,966 slum clusters in Dhaka, 54,9% of all slums in Bangladesh

17,9% establishment between 1986-90 673,883 households

3,420,521 people 9% of clusters occupy 0-100 persons

slums occupy 5,1% of total city area, but 37,4% of city population

220,246 pers./km2 (Dhaka 29,857 pers./km2)

55,2% live with 5 pers./room 61% have 7 - 9,3 m2 house size

77,2% rented slums, 11,7% owners and 11,1% rent free 58,7% poorly drained and only 39,1% flood free

45,8% has to share a drinking water tap with 6 - 10 households

89,8% of slums on private land occupying 70,3% of the slum people

9% on govt land occupying 25,7% of the slum people

70% received services from one or more NGO’s

Dhaka slums attract people from 28 (out of 64) districts of the country

24% occupied in transport sector, 22,4% as factory worker and 18,6% for day labour

86,4% of households live under poverty line (<5000 Tk/month/household) (<64€)

[CUS 2006]

CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN SPACE IN DHAKA_SLUMS

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The first part of this chapter ‘Defining Public Space’ focuses on a general definition of public space enriched with legal, social and political features. A first way of looking at the definition is to implement it on the case of Dhaka and critically study its public spaces. This implementation is carried out in the second part ‘Classification of Open Spaces in Dhaka’.

A first conclusion that emerges, is that two public spaces more or less fulfil the definition: the streets and Ramna Area. The subject of this thesis is Ramna Area and therefore the second element of the conclusion investigates the relevance of Ramna Area for the entire city by zooming out. In the same breath questions arise about the relevance of the definition and so the definition is raised to objections in the final part of the conclusion.

STREETS AND RAMNA AREAConsidering all the public spaces in Dhaka which have been put under glass the streets and Ramna Area meet the requirements of the definition the most. [See Booklet Public Space]

The streets are the place where social encounters happen at regular basis and their relative importance cannot be emphasised enough due to their great accessibility and distribution over the city. Ramna Area on the contrary is a specific zone in the city. It is covered with public buildings and two green parks and thereby provides an impressive public facilitated scenery. The absence of alternatives explains in one way or another the success the place enjoys. Despite the efforts it takes for citizens dispersed over the city to reach Ramna Area, they still frequent the area. On daily basis traffic jams occur and therefore Ramna Area’s connectivity with other parts of the city is restrained.

If Ramna Area receives the title of most public the question arises if means are necessary to further develop this area. What is the relevance of Ramna Area? Are other interventions in the city not more beneficial for Dhaka?

GRAVITY POINTThe subject of the thesis is Ramna Area and evidently the relevance of the area for the city is questioned. Ramna Area is littered with cultural, institutional, commercial and governmental buildings with in the middle two green parks Suhrawardi Udyan and Ramna Park. Combining the cumulative effect of these elements with its central geographical location made Ramna Area acquire the reputation as the cultural hub of the city. As a result the area’s influence reaches much further than the close surroundings. It is misleading shorthand to refer to Ramna Area as the centre of the city but it is definitely a gravity point. An eventual urban design intervention in Ramna Area therefore would be of great interest for the entire city because the number and the variety of people that will benefit from an intervention is immense.

Anyway precautions are in place. By widening the scope of Ramna Area, traffic will congest even more and will therefore endanger the accessibility of the place. Is decentralization a more resolving tool?

OUT OF OUR HANDSEven though interventions in other parts of the city might have a bigger impact on the public life of the citizens of Dhaka, they are regretfully unrealistic. The following arguments will prove that fact and will make clear that some issues are out of the scope of architectural intervention. [See Booklet Introduction]

Above all the sealing off of the National Assembly Complex and Tejgaon Airport harm the public life and compromise Dhaka. To unload pressure from Ramna Area a line of approach can be to redevelop Tejgaon Airport and locate new institutes to the Old Airport. Actually this comprises the killing of two birds with one stone because the traffic issue can benefit from this as well. The exclusiveness, characteristic for these premises, are a direct result from decisions made from higher up. These privileges are rooted in history. So politics control for a great part the possibilities for the people in their experience of public space. [See Booklet Introduction, Historical Overview, Reading Ramna]

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PUBLIC SPACE_CONCLUSION

Finally, insufficient management and disordered growth of the city have led to insurmountable traffic jams. [See Booklet Public Space, Classification of Open Spaces in

Dhaka, Streets] This problem has to be addressed on a city scale and requires specialized investigation and analysis. Unfortunately the solution is in the hands of politics and that’s precise where the willingness and courage is missing. In all sincerity, the connectivity between different parts of the city cannot be insured and therefore the accessibility of multiple public places is at risk. In the future Dhaka will continue to burst out of its limits and therefore the traffic issues will only aggravate.

Like in most countries the policy makers render themselves guilty of short-sighted, superficial gestures in order to gain votes for the next elections. In accordance with this way of reasoning mostly physical impressive initiatives are fresh in the memory of the voters. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was appointed by the government to analyse the implementation of elevated metro lines. [See Booklet Public Space, Classification of Open Spaces in Dhaka, Streets]

Originally the Bus Rapid Transport system would be brought into force, but the policy makers converted the process and prioritized the construction of the flyovers, even though the improvement of the bus network availed more.

As stated, the growing pains of a mega city of 15 million citizens and an ill thought-out way of policy imposes serious restrictions to Dhaka and its urban designers. An intervention in Ramna Area is therefore the most reliable one possible.^ The map above gives an impression

of the spread of cultural places, historical places and monuments in Dhaka. [Habib 2012] In Ramna Area a congestion of the previous is noticeable, indicating its importance. Additionally the exclusive territories of the National Assembly Complex and Tejgaon Airport are situated. What emerges is the big, underused surfaces they comprise.

Ramna Area

Tejgaon Airport

National Assembly Complex

Cultural places

Historical places

Monuments

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NUANCESIn the perception of first part of the definition of public space ‘All areas that are open and accessible to all members of the public in society...’ [See Booklet Public

Space, Defining Public Space] the streets and Ramna Area still have shortcomings. In a way these deficiencies are resulting from the uncontrolled development of a mega city as well as from the specific multi-layered culture of Bangladesh. [See booklet Introduction, Historical

Overview, Reading Ramna]

Nevertheless it’s not only in the specific context of Dhaka that the definition is in jeopardise. General remarks independent from any context undermine the value of the definition as well. These anomalies are actually filtered away in the final part of the definition ‘...in principle though not necessarily in practice’. In the final paragraphs of this conclusion nuances concerning the definition will be sorted out.

SPECIFIC CONTEXTTwo aspects in general have an impact on the experience of public space in Bangladesh. Firstly the fact that public space is dominated by men [Van

Schenkel 2006] and secondly the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor [Siddiqui et al. 2010] and its impact on the experience of public space.

OPENNESS An interesting element to highlight is the Kurmitola Golf Course due to its indirect relevance for Ramna Area, more in specific for Suhrawardi Udyan. The Kurmintola Golf Course works well for its intended purpose but the social relevance is only limited to a minority. This minority overlaps in a great way with the higher class of society. If the place opens its territory to everyone, than the basic purpose, namely playing golf, would be impeded.Undoubtedly the wealthy have the right to hang around with peers. It is natural, common behaviour that people want to retreat themselves from the general public and in a way to distinguish themselves from other groups in society, independent from income level.

On the other hand the members of Dhaka Club who lay claim to a part of Suhrawardi Udyan to play golf, place themselves above the rest of the society. This behaviour of exclusion is inappropriate. To conclude, the openness of a place is not something that has to be a characteristic of every public space. Like the previous examples indicate, it can differ from case to case.

The collision between public and private finds expression in the presence of the informals in public space. Floating people have nowhere else to go and claim public space as their zone. In some cases, like in Suhrawardi Udyan, park users avoid floating people and preserve a certain distance. Consequently the openness is in harm.

ACCESSIBILITYIn Dhaka the accessibility is partly determined by the income level. The poor people have less access to the public space due to their limited means of transportation. They go on foot, take the rickshaw or take the bus. In the latter case they rely on the public bus system that transports them often in overcrowded, uncomfortable conditions. The wealth citizens on the contrary have a private car with air conditioning. It is quite common that a personal driver moves them around. Discouraged by time consumption, costs and unpleasant travel conditions the poor will think twice when they plan a far displacement.Note: The great number of CNG drivers and rickshaw pullers who belong mainly to the lower income group have theoretically access to the whole city. This way of reasoning is misleading because they are practising their profession. If they are off duty, they lose their ‘privileges’.

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A remark can be made concerning the connectedness of public space. Is it necessary that every public place is well connected with other parts of the city? Is it not charming that some places only attract local citizens and as a consequence conserve an apart and original atmosphere? Nevertheless it is essential that the accessibility is ensured independent from physical or mental ability, status or income level.

ALL MEMBERSIn the case of Dhaka this element of the definition is the most critical. The women, who constitute roughly half of the population, are comparatively low visible in public spaces.

One element in particular influences the presence of women in public space in the society of Bangladesh, namely Islam, the prominent religion. Women who follow Islam in a conservative way dedicate themselves to Purdah, this is the practice of concealing women from men. The Muslim women are shut away from the outside world, just seeing their direct relatives. [Schuon 2003] Since 1950 the influence of the Purdah slowly but surely ebbed away because the life in a mega city forced the Dhaka homemakers to come out of their homes. Working women gained a greater voice in the family. The situation differs from the countryside, where the habitat of rural women even today is limited. [Siddiqui et al. 2010]

A positive evolution is the clothing with Burka and Hijab. As a consequence the radical partition between man and woman is partly undermined by the veiling. The popularity of the Burka especially boomed in the 70’s and 80’s of the previous century. Women experienced the veil as a ‘private space’ in the public space. It kind of protected them from unwarranted remarks and gave them more freedom to participate in public life. [Van Schendel 2006]


> The scheme shows fictitiously that the zone of influence of a wealthy person is bigger than of a poor person and that women have a more limited scope than men in the specific context of Dhaka.

Home of wealthy person

Home of poor person

Man

Woman

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CONTRADICTIO IN TERMINISOverall the ambition to capture public space in one definition is spilled effort. It is a relevant approach to start a discussion about the topic but basically the richness and variety of public space is simply not possible to define. A definition will even harm it. The perception and requirements of public space simply vary from user to user. To conclude public space has so many layers and nuances which are context dependent and related to local habits that perhaps its main character is that it is undefined.

In that perspective it is delicate to disapprove the male dominance in public space. The Western world profiles itself as a place where women and men have equal rights. This expresses itself in public life and consequently in public space. However Bangladesh is more Islam culture orientated and espouses other values concerning public life. Indirectly this results in the low visibility of women in public space. Which set of values prevails over the other is an irrelevant question. The question should rather be independent from morality and be about the personal experience of someone in public space. If he/she feels fine in public space than that should be respected, regardless of moral code.

Nevertheless in certain quarters of the city people who reassert conservative values concerning the presence of women in public space make the lives of women in public space difficult or even miserable. [Siddiqui,

Ahmed, Siddigue, Huq, Hossain, Nazimud- Doula, Rezawana 2010] Women roaming the streets on their own or in group are stigmatized as indecent and their behaviour is disapproved. The guys shout offensive words or whistle at them. As soon as a man accompanies them the insults vanish. [Fieldwork 2011] [Ainoon 2011]

To conclude, the restricted acceptance of women in public space is something rooted in the society of Bangladesh and is still nowadays a delicate issue. The gender issue expresses itself in public space but actually has a deeper societal origin. In general the women’s participation in public life is limited in comparison with men. In order to administer new perception of women in public life the number of women holding political office needs to be increased. This will result in the involvement of women in the decision making process [Iwanaga 2008] and this will indirectly have an influence on public space.


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TRANSCENDING THE LIMITS OF PUBLIC LIFE IN RAMNA AREA A DESIGN INVESTIGATION IN DHAKA, BANGLADESHBOOKLET 2 - Public SpaceAuthors: Bernard Forier, Bruno Ronsmans, Thomas Raskin & Karolien PeetersPromotor: Prof. Ir. Bruno De MeulderLocal Promotor: Prof. Dr. Qazi Azizul MowlaCo-promotor: Prof. Dr. Ir. Hilde HeynenCo-promotor: Prof. Dr. Ir. Hilde HeynenAssessor: Arch. Leo Van BroeckGuidance: Kishwar Habib

What is public space for people in Bangladesh? What is the differ-ence between different groups in their perception of public space? The introduction of an American definition of public space provides theoretical principles that are an interesting input to analyse public space in Dhaka. Immediately the question occurs if this definition is suitable in the context of Bangladesh and if not what is problematic about it. Furthermore the definition itself is questioned, does this definition has the right parameters to define which space is public and which is not?AfterAfter the most important characteristics of a public space are brought to the attention, the next step is to classify the existing open spaces in Dhaka. What comprises the open space and how public is it? As urban voids, streets and water form the major part of the total open space of the city, these three spatial terms are discussed and their public character is queried.AsAs a conclusion specific elements about public life in Dhaka are pointed out and investigated. Hereby the focus is particularly on the users of the public spaces and the possibilities and restrictions they face when moving around in public life.

Thesis2

Documents

Transcript of Thesis2